-40 in Banff, Alberta, Canada.

Two week resort ski trip over Christmas 1996. First week every morning was below -35C. A couple fine days it was hovering around -40C & F. Even fully kitted out for the weather, walking out the lodge door felt like jumping in a pool of ice water.
http://tinyurl.com/BanffChristmas96

Made me glad to live in California. I've been backpacking a few times when the temp registered -10F according to my partner's "minimum register thermometer". Usually in January at a high altitude lake such as Loch Levin below Bishop Pass.

Normally winter nights in the Sierra seem to be around +10F or so. I talked my wife into a snowshoe trek over New Years 1990. Sun went behind the hill about 2:30 PM. It started getting COLD! By 5PM my thermometer was reading -5F. It got much colder- I estimate probably -20F. The next morning we packed up and hoofed to the car. That was her first and last winter backpack trip. When we got to the Owens Valley we found that it had been the coldest night my parents have seen in their 35 years living there at -5F on the valley floor.

Edits: added dates.

Edited by jimqpublic on 02/06/2012 20:32:49 MST.

I was thinking -49F was cold, but then realized that you wrote -49 CELSIUS (-56F). That is just plain COLD. I've done -20F and had ice hanging off my mustache. One thing about it, when it is that cold the humidity is so low that it doesn't feel as bad as 33F and WET. There was no wind during my -20F jaunt.

We were at my family's cabin cross country skiing. It was a balmy 0*F the previous day, but when we got up to leave it had dropped another 20F. We had to take the battery out of our old VW bug and put it on the wood stove to warm it up to start the car. Oil gets pretty thick at that temp too.

According to http://www.friendlyforecast.com/canada/ab_alberta/weather.php?db=10

The extreme minimum for Calgary in January was set in 1893 at -44.4C, so if verified, it smashes a very longstanding record.

198? -42f in Fairbanks with a 20 mph wind, when I was there the old windchill chart said it was -98F, but the new windchill chart has it at a balmy -77.

1985 Canadian Caribou Mountains- -28C with the windchill at -44C. Sardines for lunch- that is where I learned the trick of adding oil to the diet when you need extra fuel.

1977- I was riding a bike one January evening in St Charles, Ill., it was -28F with the winchill at over -70F, with out calculating how fast I was going on the bike. The liquid in my eyes started to thicken/gell, making it interesting to blink. That year it didn't get above 0F for 32 days straight. I rode my bike everyday.

I've been snowed on in August while hiking in the Cascades- more than once.

But the coldest I've been- like Dale, mid 30's wet and raining.


I've never had an issue when I was dressed appropriately

Edited by bestbuilder on 02/06/2012 17:18:49 MST.

I thought I hiked in some cold weather, but you've got me beat by a long shot Tad. I haven't even ridden my bike this winter, and it hasn't even been that cold. Kodos to you man, you're one tough hombre.

14 degrees... maybe less.
Hey.... you asked. Never said it was impressive :)
It was in Cache Creek Natural Area. Cash Creek froze over about an inch solid. I was using a 35 degree bag and I had very limited firewood. I was warm enough though.

Ukraine, Poland ... etc, this week, this year: -40 C/F

Cheers

When I was a kid (late 80s), I walked to elementary and middle school. One fine Michigan winter, when I got up to walk to school at 630 or so, it was -30F. That same day in the afternoon, once school got out, I walked home and it was +30F. 60 degree temperature swing. I know we're counting backpacking and hiking days, but I still remember that. And I hiked to school, right? I had a backpack; counts.

"Ukraine, Poland ... etc, this week, this year: -40 C/F"

Roger: You might put a shirt on....

I'm glad to have experienced the two lines crossing (granted it was at an alpine resort with nice warming huts). I don't care to go colder!

-22F Temp, -60F windchill, Syracuse NY. Felt pretty brutal.

In Alaska spring of 89, US Army Winter Warfare School.

Hoohah, Airborne!

-44 degrees Fahrenheit

It's funny, Jim W and I are both from sunny So. Cal and had our coldest moments in Banff, AB. I was living there for about 6 months in the early 90's. We had a month where it never got above -30*F. That was chilly. One morning hit everyone by surprise and I think there were about 5 cars in town that were running...everyone else had forgotten to plug in their engine block heaters. Haha

Hmmmm, must have been on a winter climbing trip in Idaho's Lost River Range back in the 80's. We did a new route on Leatherman Peak, and we spent three days with day time temps -25F and night time dipping to -30F. Our water bottles were old electrolyte bottles, and they froze and the plastic exploded. We drank boiling hot Kool aid for energy drinks, and we had to wrap our old nalgene bottles in our sleeping bags in order to keep the water from freezing in just a few minutes. I remember taking our leather climbing boots to our factory work place, and then using the staple guns to attach our old lodden Chounaird over gators to them! Our feet still froze and we had numb feet for weeks afterwards! Ahhhh what a great trip! :)

I just got back from an 8-day backcountry skiing trip in Quebec. Temperatures of -56C were recorded at night up on the mountains (950m). Luckily, we were camping at roughly 850m so it wasn't just as bad but it definitely was one of the hardest thing I have ever done (woke up two days in a row with stage 1 hypothermia). 8 days in snow shelters with only 1 of our 3 burners working...

I'm with you Nick, I think the coldest I've experienced is 119F ;)

Anna, you're picking up on what I've noticed too. That said...

When I lived in Boston I got caught in the 2005 blizzard crossing the Charles River. I had about 2 feet of snow, temps right around 0, sustained +30mph winds. My gear was skate shoes, hoody, leather jacket, jeans, no gloves (I'm from the desert after all). Took me 20 minutes in an ice cold shower to warm up my extremities. Even though icy, the water felt like it was boiling my feet and hands.

Since then I've come back to my beloved 6 months of summer.

I was a Nordic ski patroller at Lake Placid for the '79 Pre-Olympic World Cup Championships. The last day it was -40 F/C and the snow was like sand to ski on. Spit froze in mid-air and all games were cancelled. We had lots of snow.

In 1980 for the Olympics we had a very mild winter and, due to a poor snow winter, all snow for XC racing was man-made!

Lots of frostbite on faces and ears of athletes that week of sub-zero temperatures.

Edited by Danepacker on 02/18/2012 23:08:31 MST.